An oral history of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire tragedy at Texas A&M that left 12 dead – Omaha World-Herald

COLLEGE STATION, Texas It is often described as the most important victory in Texas A&M football history, though there was no championship trophy involved or even significant bragging rights.

This game meant something different. On Nov. 26, 1999, the Aggies played the Texas Longhorns for the 106th time, but the pageantry and vitriol of one of college footballs greatest rivalries took a back seat. The A&M campus was in deep mourning. Eight days prior, the 90th edition of the Aggie Bonfire collapsed.

The towering log stack, which students built each year and then burned the night before the Texas game to represent the burning desire to beat the hell outta t.u., stood at 40 feet on its way to a completion height of 55 feet. The structure held an estimated 5,000 logs at the time of its collapse. Eleven students and one former student were killed: Miranda Denise Adams, Christopher David Breen, Michael Stephen Ebanks, Jeremy Richard Frampton, Jamie Lynn Hand, Christopher Lee Heard, Timothy Doran Kerlee Jr., Lucas John Kimmel, Bryan Allan McClain, Chad Anthony Powell, Jerry Don Self and Nathan Scott West. Twenty-seven Aggies were injured.

The unthinkable tragedy devastated the campus and the Bryan-College Station community. Football was the last thing on anyones mind. But after a week of sorrow and loss among the Aggie family, the game went on at Kyle Field. It was an emotional scene, from pregame tributes to moving halftime performances by both university bands. And in the end, with many who witnessed it in tears, the Aggies were victorious over the highly ranked Longhorns.

On the 20th anniversary of the Bonfire collapse, here is a look back at some of those moments from those who were there in November 1999.

A memorial of crosses honoring the 12 killed in the Bonfire collapse was placed around the stack site.

Bonfire fell at 2:42 a.m. on Nov. 18. News spread quickly by word of mouth, then through local and national media reports in the early morning hours.

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (Texas A&M student body president): Probably several minutes after [Bonfire fell], I got a call from my best friend at the time saying, Hey, something happened at Bonfire. You should get over there. I had literally just gone to bed because it was the Leonid Meteor Shower. I had taken some of the fish aides and some freshman organizations out to watch the meteor shower. When I got called, I threw on a sweater and jeans and jumped in my car and went to the polo fields.

Ray Bowen (A&M president): We had phone problems, there was some delay in getting to me. I finally heard, at almost 3 a.m. I got to the Bonfire a little bit after 3:30.

Dave South (A&M announcer, associate athletic director): We have a clock radio that went off at 5 a.m. that morning. I was laying there, listening. It wasnt turned up real loud. And I thought I heard them say something about Bonfire. So I jumped up and turned it up, and they were talking about the collapse of the Bonfire that night. I woke Leanne up. Then I got on the phone, and first I called our athletic director, Wally Groff. I woke him up, and he was not aware of what had happened. Then I called R.C. Slocum, our head football coach, and gave him that news. And of course both of them were shocked.

R.C. Slocum (A&M football coach): Dave South called me and told me about it. Told me there had been a horrible accident at the Bonfire site, and that there were serious injuries and some casualties. I hurried up; we had a staff meeting planned early that morning at the stadium. I went there and had some of the coaches there, and we just talked about it. We didnt know what was going on. Then some players started calling in.

Randy McCown (A&M quarterback): My mom called at like 6 oclock that morning, which is totally out of the ordinary. She called and said, Are you OK? Of course Im OK. What about all your friends? Yeah, everybodys fine. Why, Mom? Whats going on? Well, the Bonfire fell.

Matt Bumgardner (A&M receiver): Wake up [that] morning to helicopters flying over our house, which was odd because theres no traffic copters like in Houston or Dallas. That was a really weird sound. Randy [McCown] came busting in the room, and he says, Bum, get up, Bonfire fell. Four students are already confirmed dead. I just remember becoming nauseous to my stomach, getting up and actually throwing up.

Mack Brown (Texas head coach): I was driving to work in my car in Austin. When I heard it, the first thing I heard was someone on the radio say, For you parents that want to make sure your kids are safe, call this number. And I thought, how awful for a parent to have to worry about if their child was alive or safe, or were they involved. Especially the big football fans who were trying to have fun and do something positive and good for the Bonfire to rally their team.

And then they came back on the radio and said, Sorry parents, these lines are overloaded. And I pulled off on the side of the road and I started crying, as a father. Because I thought, what an awful thing to have to worry about whether your children are alive, and you cant even talk to them, and especially if theyre not calling you.

So I called Sally, my wife, immediately and said, Heres whats happened. What do we do? Women are smarter than men, and she said, Well, well pray for the families of those that have lost their children. But what we can do is we can do something to try to help the injured kids that are still alive. Lets start a blood drive immediately at our office. And we did that, and it was overwhelming to see how many fans from all different universities came to give blood.

Items paying tribute to those killed in the Bonfire collapse were placed around the stack site.

As the news spread throughout Bryan-College Station, the campus was in shock. The football teams scheduled practice was canceled. Slocum credits the players for wanting to go to the Bonfire site. McCown recalls stopping players at the athletic offices door and redirecting them to the site, where students were gathering to try to help, or just to pray.

Bowen: When I showed up a little bit after 3:30, there were already students there. They heard about it and came out of the dormitories. They were crying. They were on their knees, praying.

Hurd: It was pure pandemonium, pure chaos. I had gotten there before emergency management folks were able to cordon off the site, because it was an active, dangerous, unstable mess.

South: They had some sort of machinery that had a grabber on the end of it, a claw. The structural engineer was telling them which log to pick up next. They didnt want any further collapse. They had run some sound equipment in there. They could hear some of the young people that were pinned under there, either hear them breathing or they were talking.

Shane Lechler (A&M punter): [It was] eerily quiet, because they were still searching for people that were caught up in the logs. All the first responders and the paramedics and everybody needed to be able to hear, just in case they could hear someone.

Bumgardner: It was almost like what I would picture war being like. There was dust everywhere, there were medics everywhere. Youre just sitting around and thinking, Is this really happening?

South: There came a point when I was out there, they asked everybody to quit moving. Wherever you were, sit down on the ground and dont say anything. Dont make any noise. At that time, one of the pieces of sound equipment was near one of the young people, and they couldnt hear breathing anymore. They got the idea that they were running out of time. At that point I remember that, still trying to be as cautious as possible, they just started picking up those logs. This machine would take them and [the operator] would throw it off to the left, away from the stack. They were trying to get down to all of those young people as quickly as possible.

Rick Rigsby (life skills coordinator and chaplain for the A&M football team): I went right into pastor mode. Nothing prepares you for this. Our young men, many of them had never experienced a tragedy before, and certainly not one of this magnitude. I spent my day just listening, letting our players talk, letting them share their feelings and just trying to offer some perspective. I remember the perspective I tried to offer is that we have to go on; that the essence of hope is found in moving forward.

Texas A&M wide receiver Chris Cole (second from left) helps A&M students move wood from the fallen stack Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999.

Once the Aggie players were on site, they wanted to get involved. McCown recalls players saying, We could help. Let us help. The players and Bonfire crew members were enlisted to clear logs that had been removed from the stack, but that needed to be taken farther away to give the emergency crews more space to work.

Bowen: I have this image of these great big guys hauling logs. To see those students, those athletes being there and doing that, was a significant experience. But there were students everywhere helping.

JaMar Toombs (A&M running back): We had guys lined up all the way up and down the log, on both sides. Wed all get down, squat underneath, and lift it up and then get it waist high. Then wed lift again and get it on our shoulders and carry it out.

Brian Gamble (A&M linebacker): I had no clue how massive those things were. It took everything that we had to haul some of those things out of the way.

Lechler: It would take 10 to 12 guys just to pick one up. If you didnt all do it at the same time and the same way, it wasnt going to work.

Chris Cole (A&M receiver): We moved as many as we could. I do remember how everyone pulled together. It was one of those moments, you saw the spirit of Aggieland. Of course everybodys proud to be an Aggie, but you would be extremely proud of the way everybody responded.

Slocum: I was proud to see, it was a great display of kids involved. You had the Corps members and the football players all just working, carrying these heavy logs on their shoulders and getting dirty. No one was concerned about anything except just trying to help. It really demonstrated the whole concept of the Bonfire, of all the A&M students being wired together and connected. That was one of the greatest displays, and I think it was so appropriate.

Toombs: After we left there, we all went back over to the locker room and sat around, looking at each other, just kind of coming to grips with what was happening.

Texas A&M University sophomore Erin Delcarson holds up her pot as she prays during a vigil held at Rudder Fountain after the Bonfire collapse on the Texas A&M campus on Nov. 18, 1999.

While rescue efforts continued, Aggies gathered at Rudder Fountain that afternoon for a vigil. A memorial service was held at Reed Arena that night. Bowen and Hurd spoke at the event, as did A&M graduate and Lt. Gov. Rick Perry, who said, We will remember them as long as there is a Texas A&M and the Aggie spirit is alive. And that, my friends, is forever.

Hurd, who was seated next to former President George H.W. Bush, recalls the ceremony ending, and the crowd members sitting in silence. And then one person started singing Amazing Grace. You could hear one voice, and then everybody joined in, he says. When the singing stopped, you could hear a pin drop, and there wasnt a dry eye in the crowd.

The football game was eight days away, the morning after Thanksgiving. The focus remained on the Bonfire victims and their families. But a question loomed, and a discussion soon began among the A&M and Texas football programs: Should the game be played?

Brown: I wouldve been for not playing the game. Basically, being a parent of four, I just felt like it would be better, in better taste, to honor the families and the kids that have lost their lives. In retrospect, it wasnt our call, it was Texas A&Ms call. R.C. Slocum and I are dear friends to this day. And obviously our university said, Its your call. You tell us what you want us to do and what you need us to do to help, and well do it.

Slocum: I thought about it any way you could look at it. I thought the players would be better, I thought our students would be better, and their families, to go ahead and play the game. That we could draw some comfort from each other being together, rather than letting the kids go ahead and everybody leave for the holidays and be scattered everywhere. I wanted to keep our team together.

Rigsby: Throughout the week, it became clear that we were going to play. A number of our guys didnt want to play. My job was to share with them that the way that you can memorialize the 12 that have gone on home is to do your best, no matter what.

Mike Caruso (A&M assistant athletic director in charge of game operations): I think the overarching feeling there was that we needed to mourn for those that perished, but that we needed to support each other. And one of the things that I think eventually came out of that was that this game could be a unifying factor for both universities in light of the tragedy.

McCown: I dont know who made the final call, but the decision was made to go ahead and to play it, and I think it was a great decision. It was, in my opinion, such a part of the healing process. Looking back on it, if that didnt happen, you dont know how this thing would have transitioned. What wouldve been the next step? How would that have gone?

Preparation began for the athletes, coaches and for those involved in game presentation. What is normally a week of spirited anticipation for the rivalry game was thrown off course, with mourning and the inability for some to focus after the tragedy.

South: I think I did all my work at home that week. The thought on my mind more than anything else was the parents of those students. I just couldnt imagine what they were going through, to get a phone call like that in the middle of the night not knowing, first of all, whether or not your child was on the stack at that time when it collapsed, or somewhere else. They had to wait. Im sure there were a lot of phone calls being made to this campus Are you OK? And until they answered the phone, they were probably holding their breath. I can only speak for myself it took me a while to get ready to do that football broadcast, just in preparing it.

Slocum: We met with the team, and I told them we needed to go ahead and practice. I didnt expect them to have a bunch of rah-rah kind of emotion that you normally would expect in getting ready for that game. But that we did owe it to ourselves and owe it to the students that had been injured and died in that Bonfire, we owe it to them to be well prepared and go out and do a good job in the game.

Gamble: You hear it all the time: Any time something bad happens, somebody throws themselves into their work as a distraction to get away from it. I think thats what that week was. A lot of us bonded together. We threw ourselves into those practices and preparing for that game. It probably brought us together even more.

Toombs: Me personally, every day I dug in more and more as we got closer to the game, knowing that I was planning on playing my best. Mainly for the Aggie nation to feel better about what just happened, and to do my best to bring some kind of peace to the situation.

Bumgardner: It had a huge impact, especially on the older guys. Because we had been there before, we had experienced Bonfires before, so we got to experience what an amazing tradition it is. The older guys, we got together and said, We gotta do whatever it takes to get the team as ready as possible to play the game. The community needs this, the university needs this.

Rigsby: What really blessed us is our community grew. A&M had a community called the United States of America, called the world. We could feel prayers and well wishes. Ive never seen evidence of the Aggie spirit like I saw that week. Helping, encouraging, praying for one another, doing whatever we could to help the healing process.

Doves are released during a pregame ceremony at Kyle Field on Nov. 26, 1999, in honor of those killed in the Bonfire collapse.

Traditions at both universities changed in the wake of the tragedy. Texas annual Hex Rally was turned into a memorial event that Hurd, Perry and A&M representatives attended, along with busloads of Aggies who made the trip to Austin. We all got together and had a candlelight vigil, Brown says, more than anything else for the kids that had lost their lives, and we prayed for the kids that were still injured.

An estimated 40,000 people gathered near the Bonfire site for a silent candlelight vigil the night before the game, including former President Bush and his wife, Barbara, and Gov. George W. Bush and his wife, Laura. The crowd then headed to Kyle Field for Yell Practice, which drew an estimated 65,000 people. The Aggie Band performed, and Slocum and the yell leaders addressed the crowd. A cannon fired 12 times in honor of the students who died. The traditional Beat the hell outta t.u. yell was omitted from the event.

On Nov. 26, game day morning, 86,128 fans packed Kyle Field. At the time, it was the largest crowd to see a football game in the states history. Pregame tributes included an opening prayer by Hurd, a moment of silence and the release of 12 doves. You could hear the wings of those birds flapping, South says. A flyover of F-16s piloted by A&M graduates in the Air Force included the missing man formation.

Aggies and Longhorns describe a different kind of atmosphere as the 10 a.m. kickoff approached.

Bowen: There was this overcast of the tragedy. On the sidelines, near where the yell leaders stand in front of the student body, were a lot of the red pots [Bonfire leaders] and the kids that were injured during the collapse. So that was a very emotional deal.

Caruso: The one thing that struck me the most was how quiet 88,000 people could be, when we had the moment of silence and a couple of different times during halftime. It was amazing how quiet it was inside the stadium.

Gamble: Running out for pregame, it was almost eerie. Nobody really knew how to react. The stadium in general, it was quiet. I never heard Kyle Field that quiet.

Bumgardner: It was eerily calm. There was a heightness there. We knew the importance of the game, and I think thats what gave us a chance to win that game. Texas didnt know what they were getting into. We were around the talks of death and the 12 students that had been lost, and visiting with survivors. You feel like a community at A&M, as silly as that sounds, and people try to make fun of it. But we are a family.

Kwame Cavil (Texas receiver): It was Thanksgiving, so you knew everybody was watching. I felt like the whole nation was rooting against us. You almost felt an extra weight. We were almost like the bad guy. Even though we werent, because we had nothing to do with the tragedy that happened. But you did feel that way. It was eerie.

I remember Coach Brown saying, Have a heavy heart for the students that lost their lives doing the Bonfire. But try to block it out and focus on your job, because we can only control what we can control.

Breaking news before kickoff: Texas quarterback Major Applewhite, who would go on to win Big 12 co-offensive player of the year honors that year, had food poisoning and would not start. The much-hyped freshman Chris Simms, who had been considered the No. 1 recruit in the nation, would get the first start of his college career. He had seen minor action in several games that season.

Brown: We didnt know whether Major would play until we actually walked out on the field. He was so sick, he couldnt. He was still throwing up. So you put a freshman in that environment, in a very difficult spot, in his first start.

Gamble: We knew it really wouldnt change their game plan much. They were going to rely on their run game. Kwame Cavil was their leading receiver, and they were going to try to get him the ball. If anything, we thought we might be able to rattle Simms a little bit more, being a young guy, being in that environment for the first time.

Cavil: Nothing changed as far as offense. I think the playbook was a little bit limited. But Chris was such a knowledgeable player and kind of ready for the moment. We stayed with the game plan.

Bumgardner: The defense, they were hyped up when they found that out.

Cole: At that point, Major Applewhite was playing some really good football. He was probably one of the better, smarter quarterbacks in the country. Not having him on the field definitely gave us an advantage.

Lechler: [Major] could possibly go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play at the University of Texas. Simms being a rookie, and us with the style of defense we played, I would take our chances over a freshman quarterback any day of the week.

Toombs: It didnt matter who was on the field. We had a different purpose of what we were playing for. You look back at it, thats a horrible situation for Chris Simms to get stuck in. Hes going up against a very motivated team.

Texas (9-2) was ranked seventh in the AP poll, and A&M (7-3) was 24th. The Longhorns were favored. Texas got the ball to start the game and missed a field goal attempt. The teams traded punts on the next two possessions. The following Aggie drive was highlighted by a 25-yard reception by Cole and five runs by Toombs, including a 3-yard touchdown for the games first score. Kyle Field was electric in Aggie fans excitement at taking an early lead.

Bumgardner: It exploded, man. We had the lead. I remember the stadium went crazy. You could feel in the air how much [Aggies] wanted that game.

Cole: That was important for us, to set the tone of what its gonna be. We knew what we wanted to do was use the run to set up the pass. We had to get big JaMar Toombs going and Tiki Hardeman going in order for [Texas] to loosen up in the secondary. Aggie fans were going completely bananas.

Lechler: That kinda gave everybody that had been affected by the Bonfire, I dont want to say hope, but a boost. Something. It gave everybody something better than they were the play before, when we didnt have any points on the scoreboard.

Gamble: It was like, All right, weve got some momentum. Were rolling. This is meant to be. Weve been through a lot and were going to lay it on the line.

The touchdown excitement was soon tempered by the extra point attempt. The ball was snapped but got past the hands of holder and backup quarterback Mark Farris. Lechler, who played both punter and kicker, scooped up the ball and made a desperate pass toward the end zone. Longhorn safety Lee Jackson intercepted at the 4-yard line and ran it all the way back, 96 yards, to deliver the 2-point conversion for Texas. The Aggies promising drive ended with a 6-2 lead.

Lechler: I just picked it up and just tried to make a play. Thats all it was. I shouldve just thrown it away. And once I threw an interception, I was like, Oh, [expletive]. Not today. We dont need this happening today.

Gamble: That was clearly not how we drew that up. And Shane was an old high school quarterback. That was a poor attempt on his part. That was a joke, by the way, Im just messing with Shane. Even at that point, its, OK, were still in good shape.

Toombs: That was my good friend Lee Jackson returning it back for 2 points. Yeah, that sucked. Hes from Longview, where Im originally from. Weve been friends since we were kids. Seeing that thats a friend of mine, Im happy for him, but of course Im mad because they just scored 2 points on us.

Cole: You know what was going through my mind? This is what happens when Texas A&M and Texas meet. I wasnt surprised. We all knew what kind of game it was going to be. It was very rare that it was blowouts between these two teams. We knew there were going to be ups and downs during the game.

McCown: Golly, I had totally forgotten about that, to be honest with you. Once we got out there and set the tone, you knew that, OK, this was just part of it. This is part of the game. You absorb the punches, stick to the game plan the coaches put together and well be fine.

Slocum: I kind of worried in the game a little bit about so much emotion going into it. I worried that we might have some letdowns. You just have to try to stay positive and keep going and not make a big deal out of it. Just keep playing.

Dr. Ray Bowen: Retired

Mack Brown: Head football coach at the University of North Carolina

Matt Bumgardner: Behavioral specialist working in special education in north Houston schools

Mike Caruso: Retired as associate athletic director for game management at Texas A&M in 2018

Kwame Cavil: Head football coach at Waco High School

Chris Cole: Retired

Brian Gamble: Linebackers coach at Louisiana Tech

Will Hurd: U.S. representative for Texas 23rd congressional district

Butch Ireland: Owner of Butch Ireland Photography

Shane Lechler: Retired from the NFL in 2019

Randy McCown: Owner of M&H Crates, a lumber and pallet company in Jacksonville, Longview and Alto

Timothy Rhea: Director of bands and head of music activities at Texas A&M

Rick Rigsby: President and CEO of Rick Rigsby Communications

Kevin Sedatole: Director of bands and professor of music at Michigan State

R.C. Slocum: Special adviser to the president at Texas A&M

Dave South: A&M baseball announcer; retired from football and basketball announcing in 2018

JaMar Toombs: Retired

The teams traded turnovers on consecutive drives. Texas Hodges Mitchell ran for a 14-yard touchdown at the start of the second quarter, and Chris Robertson added a 1-yard score with 5:19 left in the half. The Aggies had an opportunity when Michael Jameson blocked a Longhorn punt and the ball was recovered at the Texas 31-yard line with 1:10 left. But the offense turned it over on downs. Texas took a knee to end the half, leading the Aggies 16-6.

Bumgardner: The locker room at halftime was one of the most powerful scenes of that game for me. We just couldnt get anything going on offense. I remember Chris Cole was sitting there, we were sitting around, with this confidence. He said, If were going to win the game, its going to be because of us, talking about the skill position players. Chris was crying. Not like bawling, but with tears running down his face, saying, We win this game, its up to us. Weve gotta do this. And everybody was shaking their heads, like, Lets go.

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An oral history of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire tragedy at Texas A&M that left 12 dead - Omaha World-Herald

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